Capitalism has won! Globalisation, however, has failed.
By means of this the New World Order has also brought its numerous advantages to the masses through its globalisation mantra. However, the rapidly modernising world the Hegemonic Stability Theory that predicts a change in hegemon after every 100 years has been negated. This is because with the rapid use of technology, the transmission of ideas is eased and so is the absorption; thereby instituting the possibility of a change in governance much sooner. This necessitates the need to understanding, more closely, the facets under which the world is now operating-the need for ideological understanding of the present world.
Globalisation has failed because more and more states are opting out of bigger units in search of independence- the Far Right has started to emerge as a move towards identity politics and nationalism. The utility for a globalised one world is thus waning. In a similar vein, it can be said that capitalism has won because states are now weighing in on the costs and benefits of smaller units in trying to understand ways in optimising the available resources. The need for ‘closed borders’, economic disintegration in states of for e.g. European Union beg the need for revision on the ideals that are dominating the rise of identity politics.
‘Independence’ and ‘Identity’ have always been prominent in regional politics, however, with the emergence of New World Order these were subordinated to the greater economic integration. While most countries have optimised the gains, the leakages in terms of overseas operations in Middle East have compromised the economic chronicle that was to emerge and sustain.
Under an economic perspective, optimisation in Europe peaked and without any change in the idealogues the Big Push couldn’t occur and the economy rather than stagnating, started to slump. Soon after the emergence of Refugee Crisis the underlying conditions didn’t change but the rapid change in population and terrorist activities (previously held constant) went up. People’s perceptions towards the European leadership was significantly lost and the need for closing borders to control for the two extraneous variables was realised. This led to Brexit and England leaving the previously celebrated European Union.
While this hasn’t come as a welcome move in either England or the greater European Union, it is expected that in the coming years this trend would ensue all over Europe. These events can at best be understood in terms of the economic costs and benefits associated with governance. Initially, these costs were projected to be much lower when the European Union was created; the benefits of free movement of goods between countries was greater than the costs associated with the dilution of sovereignty, economic integration and the use of a standard currency, the euro. However, as the US-led coalition in the entire Middle East served a severe blow and the drastic increase in costs couldn’t be effectively covered within the existing system, the costs to each state started to increase. This coupled with concerns over protecting people against terrorist activities emerged as high costs for individual states who could no longer be a part of a much larger unit.
Apart from the economic costs, the Refugee Crisis has also increased a number of social costs. These aren’t as easily computed but the effects are felt in the general perceptions of the people towards their governments and can be described as the drastic change in the ‘political culture’ of the West which is tilting towards the Right.
Examples of Far Right can be seen in the recent elections in Germany where the Alternative For Germany (AFD) a far Right political party has gained 13% of total vote. The high percentage of vote is an indication of the ‘demographic revolution’, rise of fears of terrorist activities and a sense of threat from increasing multi-culturalism. This points towards the understanding that a borderless capitalist world that breeds on economics and negates the notions of culture, religion, language etc. is largely a utopian idea and that associations with culture run much deeper.
The election of Donald J Trump, a right populist leader suggests the errors of multi-culturalism and the stigmas associated with Muslim terrorists can’t alone be blamed. The migrant crisis highlights an inherent need to ‘provide for’ your ‘own people’ to restore people’s confidence in the economy, democracy and the state’s institutions.
While this would suggest that hyper capitalism has lost, however, the increasing number of referendums in the world suggest otherwise. These are another indication that the identity politics are on the rise necessitating the need for independence amongst groups who feel they aren’t represented properly in the system they are a part of.
Referendum for an independent Kurdistan, Catalonia, Scotland are all very important examples signifying the need to understanding the indigenous groups. After organising themselves as an independent group they then move towards formalising themselves in an idiosyncratically different commune that has different set of ideologies. Thereby, allowing them to move towards formulating strategies that would enable them to govern themselves, separately.
The Far Right promises both socio-economic benefits to such communities and enables them to represent themselves fully, form associations with their culture and traditions that are largely under-represented in the existing system.
This is a trend that has been observed in USA’s tilt towards the election of populist, rightist Donald Trump as well. While there was no culturally isolated group, but the white Americans felt under-represented in a country where there population is shrinking. Verily, the American Dream that had led the millions of people to immigrate has started to dwindle significantly. With White Supremacy on the rise in US, there is a need to understanding the limitations associated with a globalised world and people’s perceptions regarding optimising outcomes.
Capitalism works best with democracy, however, there is a need to understanding the rise of Far Right and its place in the globalised world of the 21st century.
